The very top of your instrument is called the "headstock," and the area right beneath it is where you'll be tapping those colored fret buttons on its neck. A good habit to get into is resting the butt of your palm against the back of the fret area, and having your fingers curl around underneath and to the front for pressing the buttons. To paint a clearer mental picture, this is akin to grabbing the neck from the underside and trying to make a loose fist around it.

Many players start out with their index finger on the top-most green fret, but this is strongly discouraged. You'll establish a habit that you'll have to break when you get into Medium, Hard, and Expert mode, so you should do things right from the start. Settle your pointing finger on the red, your middle on the yellow, your ring on the blue and your pinkie on the orange. That's right, you're going to get your pinkie into this whether you like it or not. Don't worry though, as you won't really be using it that much till Medium at least. Just be prepared.

This might leave you wondering how you'll hit the green, and that's simple. You'll slide your hand up the fret board to move your pointer from the red to the green. Once you've hit it, you'll move right back down again to red. Practice this as much as you have to in order to get used to it, and don't let yourself keep your hand at the top all of the time.

Assuming that you're clear on how to insert that shiny DVD and get your system started up, we're going to move on to the pretty plastic guitar you finished unpacking. It comes with a shoulder strap, and its use is recommended, especially while you're trying to find out a comfortable way to hold on. Different people play different ways, and here's a few you can try out.

Pretending you're playing a real guitar while seated is one method, and you should have a stool or armless chair to try it out on. When you sit down, make sure you're comfortably upright. Your good hand (e.g., if you're right-handed, it's your right) should be in the area of the strum bar, while your other hand is supporting the neck (where the fret buttons are located). As you're holding your instrument, you'll notice that there's a curved indentation on both sides, and you want to rest this curve on your leg. Real guitarists normally rest their axe on the leg closest to their strumming arm, but this is a miniature plastic imitation, so you should put it on whatever leg you're most comfortable with.

If you want to stay seated but would rather go Ukulele style, you should take off the Les Paul and tighten up the shoulder strap a bit. Your ultimate goal is to have the guitar hanging from your neck, and resting either right under or against the top of your chest. This might sound painful, and it can be if you pull down on the guitar while holding the neck, but some people love it. Your strumming hand will usually be pressed against the body for additional support (and neck relief), and you'll get to pretend you're shredding Hawaiian style.

Of course, real rockers do it standing up, and you'll have to let out the shoulder strap all over again for this one. In fact, it's good to let the strap out all the way, and then adjust it as necessary. In the end, you'll want the Les Paul to be hanging around your stomach (or lower), with your fret hand supporting its weight. Your strumming hand will be hovering around near the body of the guitar, but usually not pressing too hard against it. Some people will point the neck outward while having the body pressing against their stomach, while others let it dangle. Play around and see what works best for you.

There are countless variations and little changes you're bound to make in how you hold that Les Paul, and don't be afraid to do so. There is no "right way" to play a guitar, particularly a plastic one, so you should do what's most comfortable for you.

Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs

Another method of fret-pushing is using hammer-ons and pull-offs, which are also referred to as HOs and POs. Their use is detailed in one of the in-game tutorials, titled "Advanced Techniques," and it's recommended that you run through it before starting to play. Though this isn't exactly an advanced player's method, you won't really see this in Easy mode, so beginners may want to return to this section later on. Nonetheless, don't forget to try that tutorial!

Basically, hammer-ons refer to a low-to-high series of note gems that are played from the left to the right, and only require one strum at the beginning. Pull-offs are the opposite, for they require strumming once on a low note and then tapping the subsequent, higher notes.

You can recognize both HOs and POs by looking at a sequence of gems on your screen. First, we'll check out HOs:

To start a hammer-on, you should hold down the fret button for the very first, incoming note, and strum once that note reaches the bottom. This is ordinary, but what follows isn't. You won't strum for the subsequent, halo-endowed gems, but you'll tap their respective fret buttons instead. As in real life, hammer-ons only require the guitarist to strum one time for the sequence. Once the solid, non-highlighted notes reappear, you'll have to resume strumming.

Likewise, there's the PO:

This is the hammer-on's opposite. You'll hold down and strum the first high note, and then simply tap the brighter, lower notes that follow. Optionally, you can hold down every fret leading to the first PO gem, and then peel away (or "pull off") your fingers for the subsequent ones. That's how things worked in the first Guitar Hero, but it's too slow for the toughest songs. Still, it's fun to do.

There's some in-depth info written about the crazier HOPOs that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has to offer, and you'll find it in the "Tapping That Fast" section. That'll only apply to people who are really going all the way, however; the average Joe won't need to sweat it.